about forty-two, with striking Jewish physiognomy, gentle and pleasing
in manner. I was very much struck with his conversation. We said we
came to learn as much as we could of Catholic institutions. 'As for
Protestantism,' said he, 'I believe it has produced good fathers of
families, good morals, kindly social feelings, and so on; but as for
perfect devotion of the heart to God, it seems to me quite barren. But
the soul should not walk, she should fly.' On the worship of the
Blessed Virgin, so called, he said, 'Place yourself in the presence of
Jesus Christ, for He is ever present, He is always the same. You would
see beside Him the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles. You would throw
yourself at his feet; but having done so, would you have no thought
for His mother? Would you turn your back upon her? Would that be a way
of gaining His favour? Or, place yourself at the foot of the
Cross, remember His last words, and how can any Christian have other
than filial feelings towards her? But there is not a child of the
poorest Catholic peasant who would for an instant confound the
reverence paid to the mother of his Lord with the worship due only to
God. C'est une horreur. Elle est une simple créature, une fille
d'Adam, notre sœur; mais elle a réçu la grace d'être mère de Dieu.
Moi, je baise un tableau de ma mère, de mes sœurs, de mes amis; et
je ne baiserais pas celui de la Sainte Vierge? Je fléchis le genou
devant les rois de la terre; je ne le fléchirais pas devant elle?' He
took up a book by a Protestant minister, I think of Geneva, and read
to us with great indignation the account he had made up of a Roman
priest's sermon on the Blessed Virgin--the _adoring_ her, and so on.
He said the Protestant remarks on that subject were full of bad faith,
and were in the highest degree shocking to Catholics. I asked him
about his brother's conversion: he said, over and above the printed
account which I had seen, 'My brother, two hours after his conversion,
was seen by Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was ready to throw himself on his
knees in adoration to God. Nothing was known of my brother at Rome,
and at first great apprehensions were entertained as to what his
character might turn out to be. He had never read two pages of the
Bible, never received any religious instruction whatever, was
altogether of a light and superficial character. The Blessed Virgin
appeared to him as close as I am to you; she made a motion to him that
he should remain quiet under the divine influence. On rising out of
his ecstacy he had received intuitively the knowledge of the Christian
faith. He came and lived three months with me; I never talked with him
as to what he should do; I carefully abstained from exercising any
influence over him. I had, indeed, great apprehensions of him, as to
what his future life would be. At the end of that time I said to him,
I am going to offer mass for you, to know what your future vocation
will be. He replied, without the slightest hesitation or emotion, I am
in no doubt about that. Two courses are open to me: one is to become
a priest and live here with you; we should be two brothers
together,--that would be, indeed, a delightful life: the other is to
enter the Company of Jesus. I do not know what that is, but I shall
become a Jesuit. I was very much astonished. As tu bien réflechi, je
lui dis?--Je n'y ai pas réflechi, mais la S. Vierge me l'a dit.--Alors
je me tus, je ne dis plus une parole. He knew so little what the
Jesuits were; he had so great an apprehension what would happen to
him, that when he left me he agreed that, if he was unhappy, he would
put a certain mark in his letter for me to come and see him. I went
after a time to see him: I found him engaged in cleaning the
dirtiest parts of the house. They had put him on the severest trials
to test his resolution; he surmounted them all, and now, since he has
been three years among them, he has never had even l'ombre de peine.
_I believe that he has more than once received a repetition of the
grace he had at Rome_, but I have never asked him on the subject. His
vocation has been marked out by the Blessed Virgin for the conversion
of the Jews. My uncle is worth from six to seven millions of francs:
he has disinherited my brother, who has renounced every thing. He
built a small church near here: before going into the order of the
Jesuits he distributed all his property to the poor, as is their
custom; previous to his conversion he had never had vision or anything
of the kind.'
M. Ratisbonne, seeing we were greatly interested in all he said,
warmed in his manner, and before parting he gave each of us a small
book; mine is a Catechism. I told him how much I had liked his life of
S. Bernard. 'Ah,' he said, 'you have had the patience to read that.' I
begged him to allow me to call on him again before leaving. We then
went to Miss Young's, where I wrote down as much as I could remember
of our conversation, which had greatly moved me. Thence M. Carron took
us to several booksellers; we also called on M. Galais at the
Séminaire S. Sulpice, and delivered our letter; as he had a
class shortly after, we proposed coming again on Thursday. We then
adjourned to the church a short time, to various libraries, and did
not get home till late.
_Wednesday, July 9._--Called on M. Martin Noirlieu, Curé of St.
Jacques; we found him very affable, and desirous to oblige. Talked
about the state of things in England, and said we were most desirous
to see things as they were, and to get rid of all prejudice. I said
the _culte_ of the Blessed Virgin was that which stood most in our
way; and remarked, how in their litanies to her, after a simple
address to the different persons of the Holy Trinity, there followed a
reiterated invocation of her under many various titles, throwing, as
it were, into the shade the Godhead. He excused this, because in those
litanies her intercession was especially requested, and spoke of other
litanies to Jesus, &c. He also said the Church was in no way committed
to those popular devotions of the Archiconfrèrie, &c. He, for example,
had had nothing to do with them at all; but lately he had had occasion
to preach severely against the idea of any virtue being supposed to
reside in images themselves. He strongly recommended Bossuet's
Exposition, as being a faithful account of the Church's doctrines.
There was strict unity as to dogma, but within that limit there were a
vast number of things which might or might not be true. He has been
curé since 1836; about 300 communicants every Sunday in his
parish, which has 15,000 people. Among them are many Jansenists. At
Easter rather less than half the people communicate; he excused there
not being more by their having _severe_ notions on the subject. Spoke
favourably of his people. Walked with us to S. Etienne; a strange
mixture of Gothic and Renaissance, with some fine features; the tomb
of S. Geneviève, which he said was of the fourth century. Thence to
S. Gervais, a fine church of the latest Gothic, the Lady Chapel of
which has been most beautifully restored and decorated; there are five
painted windows, and four very interesting frescoes by Delorme, of
incidents in her life. The whole church is to be done after the same
manner. The government, too, are going to spend 80,000_l_. in
thoroughly restoring Notre Dame: all the windows are to be of painted
glass. There is a curious pendent crown, wrought in stone, in the roof
of this chapel. M. Noirlieu invited us to be at a "conférence," which
he would hold with some of his parishioners on Saturday, who assisted
him in the instruction of the poor. He left us, and we went to see la
Sainte Chapelle, but were disappointed, as a ticket from the architect
is necessary. Here, too, scaffolding is up, and restoration in full
progress. We then mounted the towers of Notre Dame, and enjoyed for
some time that noble view of the stateliest of modern cities. I
never felt more admiration of this magnificent city than on this
visit: one is ever painfully contrasting the meanness of our public
buildings, and the wretched appearance of our brick houses in London,
with the noble quais and palaces of Paris. These towers themselves are
of wonderful solidity, and evidently built for spires; in truth, they
ought to be double their present height. Here is, however, a great
want of towers and spires in this view, such as there must once have
been at Paris. We took a peep also at the great bell,--an immense
creature. At five o'clock we went to dine with Bishop Luscombe: found
him in his picture gallery, which he took great delight in showing us.
We met here a Mr. Parkes, an American clergyman, who was elected
Bishop of Alabama two years ago, but declined on the score of health.
He is an interesting person. I had a long conversation with him on the
state of the Church in England, America, and France. He, too, has a
strong notion of Roman corruption, but is quite ignorant of their
practice and services, having never read even the Mass. I endeavoured
to persuade him, on the ground of the Church's decided voice, that the
validity of baptism did not depend on the administrator; but he
seemed to think there was equal authority for the doctrine of
Transubstantiation. I said, as to that there were really only two
Ideas on the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist: the one was a real
true objective presence of our Lord's Body and Blood; and the other no
presence at all, but an impression produced by faith on the
individual,--a commemoration, or what not. If we agreed, as we did,
with the Church of Rome in the former view, it was better not to fight
about the mode in which she has stated it, her real intent being to
force a shuffling and evasive party to accept or reject the truth
distinctly. The Church of England, rejecting the Roman definition, has
not herself fenced the truth on the Protestant side, which may make us
more forbearing as to condemning the Roman mode of statement, being,
as we are, entirely of accord with her as to the real truth, which
lies at the bottom of the controversy--the Christian's highest and
inconceivable blessing. He thought that high and low in the Church of
England could not long go on together, and heartily wished we might
get rid of state interference and control at any cost. 'Meet in
convocation,' said he, 'and if you are turned out of doors, adjourn to
the street; suffer anything and everything, but do not let the state
control you.' We walked home with Mr. Parkes: he seems a most sincere
and candid person.
_Thursday, July 10._--M. Galais took us over the Séminaire de
S. Sulpice. There is nothing remarkable in the building. The pupils
are rather more than 200: their appearance is very devout; they seem
of low rank in life generally, and this is no doubt the case,
but with exceptions; for instance, we heard today of the son of M.
Ségur, who is there. Each pupil has a small room to himself, which
opens on the corridor; it has a bed, table, little stove, and hardly
anything more, with a crucifix and little statue of the Blessed
Virgin, belonging to the house. They make their own beds: they are not
allowed to enter each other's rooms at all, but, if they wish to speak
to one another, the stranger stands in the passage, and the occupant
at his door. The whole is under the inspection of the archbishop, who
has a chamber here, but does not often come. There are twelve masters.
The state of instruction as regards the Church is as follows in France
generally. In each diocese there is one or more petits séminaires,
which are for children, not only such as are to be ecclesiastics, but
laymen also. These are the only schools in which morals and religion
are made a primary consideration; and, therefore, though they have
nothing to do with the university, and are excluded from all
privileges, they are sought after by the sounder part of the
community. To these succeeds, for ecclesiastics alone, the grand
séminaire for each diocese; this of S. Sulpice is the most eminent in
France. The studies are for five years; two in philosophy, three in
theology. They are thus arranged, as we took them down from the
lips of M. Galais.
PHILOSOPHY (FIRST YEAR).
Logic, Psychology,--morning.
Arithmetic, Geometry, beginning of Algebra,--evening.
SECOND YEAR.
Théodicée } morning.
Morale }
Geology }
Physics } evening.
Astronomy }
Chemistry }
Sometimes, perhaps in half the dioceses of France, these two years of
philosophy are contracted to one. The three years of theology are thus
arranged:--
FIRST YEAR.
Morale. Le traité de actibus humanis.
" de legibus.
" de peccatis.
" de decalogo.
Dogme. " de vera religione.
" de vera ecclesia.
" de locis theologicis.
SECOND YEAR.
Morale. De jure et justitia.
De contractibus.
Dogme. De Trinitate.
De Incarnatione.
De gratia.
THIRD YEAR.
Morale. De sacramento pœnitentiæ. (Under this head would fall the
whole direction for the guidance of souls.)
De matrimonio.
De censuris et irregularitatibus.
Dogme. De sacramentis in genere.
De baptismo.
De confirmatione.
De Eucharistia.
De ordine. (There is also a special course on this.)
De extrema unctione.
A course of Holy Scripture twice a-week, exclusive of private study
of it.
Authors used:--
Bailly, 8 vols.
Bouvier, Institutiones Theologicæ.
Carrière, De Jure, et Justitia, &c.
Tronson, Forma Cleri.
These three years of theology are sometimes expanded to four.
For the dogma of the Roman Church, M. Galais said, the canons of the
Council of Trent, with the acts of the councils generally, were the
only _authentic_ or _symbolic_ sources; next to this comes
catechismus ad parochos. Bossuet's Exposition is regarded as quite a
standard book; likewise Moëhler's Symbolism. He recommended strongly,
for the interior life, "Louis de Grenada," "Rodriguez," "S. François
de Sales;" spoke highly of Olier's life.
We were greatly pleased with M. Galais' courtesy. He took us also over
the library, which is very good indeed; beginning with a complete
collection of the Fathers, through the schoolmen, down to modern
times: it was arranged chronologically. "He pointed out to us
'Tronson's Forma Cleri' as giving the best idea of their whole
discipline."--_M._ At M. Bonnetty's we found M. l'Abbé d'Alzon, who
kindly took us to the convent of the Dames de l'Assomption, Rue des
Postes. In passing, we looked into the chapel of the Jesuits, in their
house at Paris, which has made such a noise. They are about 20 here,
and in all France 210: and these few, but picked and valiant men, fill
with dread the hosts of the freethinkers and infidels in France; they
know not how to meet them but with persecution. We were greatly
interested indeed with the Dames de l'Assomption. We saw the
Supérieure and a sister, which latter was English. We had a long
conversation, in which she explained the object of their society,
lately founded--to communicate a Christian education to the children
of the higher ranks, especially of the aristocratie de l'argent, who
of all ranks in France are most alienated from religion. The
Supérieure spoke with much feeling and intelligence, and with that
beauty and distinctness of expression which makes the French language
so pleasing in a female mouth. She said they had been much
struck, in their experience, with the mass of knowledge and
accomplishments which existed out of the Church and the sphere of her
influence, or rather in antagonism to her. Beside the usual vows of
chastity, poverty, and obedience, they took a fourth--to extend the
kingdom of the Saviour to the utmost of their power; and the best
means to do this, they thought, was to lay hold of the education of
the higher ranks, and impress on it a religious character. 'This could
only be done,' she said, 'by a religious congregation; for how can
those who live in the world, and seek after its prizes, form their
pupils to the contempt of the world? How can those who work for riches
themselves teach others to live above them? How, especially, can the
children of the rich be strongly impressed with Christian truth save
by those who themselves bear the cross?' 'Religious orders,' she said,
'are like branches which, one after the other, spring out of a tree;
the trunk itself lasts on, but the branches, it may be, after a time
drop off, and give place to others. We do not desire that our order
should last when it ceases to be useful, and therefore we have
strictly provided that it should possess no funds after the
acquisition of the house and garden, which is necessary for our
existence: all that we allow is, that any sister may have a pension
for life--but this is not necessary; if we find any one of suitable
disposition and acquirements, we should be happy to admit her
without any. Besides this we receive payments from our pupils: we
think it more Christian to work for our living; nor would our pupils
be in a comfortable position if they did not pay us.' These sisters
recite _all_ the offices of the Breviary in Latin, but not during the
night, but anticipating them: they rise at five, go to bed at ten;
they attend Mass daily, and have an hour of meditation every morning,
and half-an-hour in the evening. 'But,' said M. D'Alzon, 'you know
that, wherever there are religious orders, there must be one secret
source of strength--intimate union with the Saviour.' 'You mean,' I
said, 'that which springs from the Real Presence.' They all agreed;
and the Supérieure continued--'We could never sustain this life, were
it not for the thought that we were spouses of Christ--that is the one
thought which is the centre of our life.' I said, 'I am sure there are
thousands of young persons in England who would enter into religious
orders if we had them.' She agreed, and said, 'they must not be purely
active, but largely contemplative; there was something pensive and
melancholy in the English female character, which shrunk back from a
purely active life such as that of the Sisters of Charity.' They were
astonished and much gratified when I read to them the Absolution in
the Service of the Sick, which pronounces absolution, by virtue
of the priestly office, _categorically_, not declaratively: they
agreed that it was perfectly Catholic. The demeanour of these
ladies--the four that I saw--struck me exceedingly: it was gentle,
perfectly that of ladies, yet intellectual: like that of those who
felt they had a noble mission, and had courage to execute it. Their
dress also is very becoming--a dark robe with a white hood, and white
cross on the centre of the breast. All their servants take the same
vows, eat at the same table; the only difference being, that they are
less intelligent and accomplished.
In the evening we went for a short time into the gardens of the
Tuileries; I had never before seen the orange trees out there, and the
gay and cheerful spirit of the scene struck me, so much more brilliant
than the aspect of our parks.
_Friday, July 11._--M. was poorly with a headache, so I went alone to
M. Galais at the Séminaire, who sent a young priest with me to M.
Poileau's school, about a mile to the south-west of Paris. There are
more than 300 pupils there; it is the largest establishment of the
kind not in connection with the university. I saw the chapel, which
was very neatly arranged, and the infirmerie, in which was a priest;
there were several beds ranged in alcoves on each side, and some sick
boys in them; a relation had come to see one, and one who seemed by
her dress to be a sister of charity, another. The boys sleep in
dormitories, ranged much in the same manner; it so happened that the
head of the establishment and the next person to him were both away,
and the rooms being locked we did not go into them. We saw a class
preparing for their first communion. The rule of the house is that
they confess constantly, but communion is left open. The boys pay
40_l_. a year each, and the masters receive the same sum, besides
board and lodging. The house was encompassed with gardens, and an
exercising ground, with poles, &c. for the boys; their ages run from 7
to 18 or 19: sometimes the conscription finds them there. My conductor
had been drawn for the conscription, and had to pay 1800 francs for a
remplaçant. He said about forty were drawn yearly on a city of 7000 or
8000; he was the eighty-first or so, but there were so many of those
who drew before him incapacitated from one cause or other, that he and
several beyond him came into the forty eligible. On returning I went
to M. Galais again, as he had invited me, and he talked to me near two
hours and a half. I thought him very well instructed and clear-headed;
he gave me a sketch of the disputes of the Thomists and Molinists on
Grace; and the system of Suarez on the subject, the science absolue,
science moyenne, and science probable of God. The Church holds the two
extreme points; on the one hand the absolute necessity of the grace of
God anticipating, as well as capacitating, every human movement,
on the other hand, the free concurrence of the human will, but she
does not attempt to define, as matter of faith, the mode of their
coexistence. He seemed to think Suarez, next to St. Thomas, was the
greatest of theological minds. Once, in a dispute with a Dominican,
the latter produced a sentence of St. Augustine which told strongly
against Suarez; he kept silence, but when his turn came to reply, he
said, 'That sentence is not in St. Augustine;' the other repeated that
it was. 'It is not,' returned Suarez; 'I know St. Augustine by heart,
and that sentence does not occur in his writings.' They searched, but
were unable to find it anywhere. That evening his conscience smote
Suarez for having said publicly, though with truth, that he knew St.
Augustine by heart, and he confessed himself on account of it. On the
subject of the Holy Eucharist, I inquired whether the Church would
require more than that after the words of consecration the Body and
Blood of our Lord were really and truly present, independent of the
faith of the individual: he said, 'Yes; she would require a belief
that the bread was destroyed, (détruit,) that its substance was
changed, and its appearance, or accidents, only remained, to meet our
senses. There were many opinions _how_ this took place, but none of
them were _de fide_, provided the thing was believed.' M. Galais gave
me much more information respecting the seminary, which I put
opposite the former remarks thereon. It seems to me that no greater
care can be taken to form the inward mind to the duties of the
sacerdotal office, and to exclude all who have not a genuine vocation.
Nothing can exceed the kindness of M. Galais in giving information. In
the evening we went to St. Severin, to hear M. D'Alzon preach: we lost
our way, and were late, and so at too great a distance to hear him
well. He spoke on the Real Presence, the junction of the Divinity with
the Humanity, and the blessings thence flowing forth, rather with
passion and feeling than with deep reflection. His incessant action
contrasts strongly with our quiet manner. I can well imagine that
reading his sermon would be quite insupportable to him, as well as to
the people. At the same time such sermons as Newman's would be lost on
them. I cannot but think that speaking from the pulpit without book
ought to form part of our education.
_Saturday, July 12._--M. D'Alzon took us over M. l'Abbé Migne's great
printing establishment. It contains 175 workmen, and everything is
done therein; binding, stereotyping, as well as printing, and selling
besides. He produces a very large octavo volume in double columns,
Latin for five francs, and Greek and Latin for eight francs: the
former he is about to raise to six francs. His patrology is to contain
200 such volumes of Latin authors, and 100 of Greek: 46 are come
out. The cheapness is wonderful, and necessary for the small incomes
of those who would chiefly want such books, and the execution fair. M.
Migne is a priest, and acts not from a desire to gain, but to assist
the clergy. However, the Archbishop has forbidden him to say Mass at
present.
We looked into the Louvre for an hour to-day, and enjoyed the glimpse
of the pictures: the first time we have so indulged ourselves.
In the evening went to M. Noirlieu, who introduced us into a
conférence de S. Vincent de Paul. About 40 young men present, of the
rank and age of students, who meet weekly; they each take about a
couple of families to visit and assist. This sort of thing exists in
33 parishes in Paris. Here there are about 50 members, in S. Sulpice
120. It is a visiting society, but under better rule than ours; and it
was pleasing to see, as being formed out of exactly that part of
society which is generally most alienated from such works. They gave
us a copy of their rules. "The abbé himself had less to do with it
than I had expected, but I believe he has an instruction in his church
on Sunday evening, especially for the workmen whose families are thus
visited. They conclude the meeting with short prayers, in which, by
the bye, there occurs an invocation of the Blessed Virgin, which all
repeat aloud, and which I did not like to repeat with them, being the
one I mentioned, some time ago, as not being fully approved at
Rome. These things are a puzzle to me. I can blink them for a time,
but when I come into close contact, I feel them again, and wonder much
how they can agree, not with infallibility, but with the wisdom which
I feel otherwise fully disposed to allow to the Church of Rome. This
particular case is _in favour_ of Rome. But then Rome allows and
sanctions what must almost necessarily involve things to which I
cannot reconcile myself. The system of devotion to the Blessed Virgin,
as it now stands, wants some foundation beyond all they tell me of
when I ask them to give an account of it. Perhaps, in their own mind,
they consider that the mind of the Church expressed in her perpetual
practice is the real ground; but for the Church being so minded I am
sure they do not assign sufficient grounds. If such grounds there are,
they must be found in mediæval revelation; at least, I can hardly
conceive mere development going so far with any authority."--_M._